Deliberations Resume In NJ Triple-Murder Trial
NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Jury deliberations resumed Friday in the trial of a man charged in the murders of three college students in 2007.
Alexander Alfaro faces 17 counts including murder, felony murder and robbery. His trial began on March 1.
Jurors began deliberations Thursday afternoon in state Superior Court in Essex County. They asked to re-hear testimony from Alfaro and a cousin who testified that he described the attacks to her. They'll resume deliberations Friday morning.
Iofemi Hightower, Dashon Harvey and Terrance Aeriel were robbed in Newark's Mount Vernon School playground in August 2007 and then shot execution-style.
Six men were charged. Two are serving consecutive life sentences and three cases are pending.
Last week, prosecutors played the taped statement in which Alfaro admits slashing one of the victims with a machete before all three were shot execution-style.
Alfaro claimed he was coerced into giving a confession, saying a Newark police detective told him to make a false statement when he was arrested two weeks after the murders.
The detective took the stand Tuesday and denied that.
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